


To Catch A Cat

by AristocatSlippers



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-19
Updated: 2018-08-19
Packaged: 2019-06-29 15:34:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15732330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AristocatSlippers/pseuds/AristocatSlippers
Summary: When Alphonse's cat gets stuck up a tree whilst he is away, Edward attempts to rescue it, only to get stuck himself and leaving Winry to rescue both of them





	To Catch A Cat

**Author's Note:**

> Based off the prompt "I told you that you'd get stuck, I'm not calling the fire department again."

“I told you that you’d get stuck. I’m not calling the fire department again.” Winry says, standing at the bottom of the tree and staring up at Edward, sitting on a branch with Alphonse’s meowing cat clutched in his arms.

Ed frowns at her, absently stroking the cat, “What was I supposed to do? Leave Al’s cat stuck in a tree? He’d kill me when he gets back from Xing if I lost his cat!” 

Shaking her head and sighing, Winry sizes up the tree, wondering if they had any ladders tall enough to reach even the first branch. How the cat - and Ed, for that matter - had even managed to climb the tree in the first place, she had no clue, given how high up even the lowest branch is. Definitely, there’s no way he could safely jump down. With one last glance, she turns and heads back towards the house, ignoring all of Ed’s indignant yelling behind her.

She takes her time, strolling casually along the path and quietly laughing to herself, listening to the idiot’s pleas to not leave him alone, stuck up a tree with his brother’s pet cat. He doesn’t even like cats. Winry supposes that she shouldn’t take too long in finding him a ladder - she’s not that mean, really. Searching the storage closets of the house doesn’t immediately yield any hope for Edward and, until she finds one behind a whole heap of clutter, she begins to wonder if she may have to leave him up there permanently. Or maybe she could drag out a mattress and get him to jump. The ladder she does find is short, but slides out to extend to a length which she guesses might be long enough to be of use. Although it seems old and somewhat rickety, it’s the only ladder she has and she elects to take it to Edward and help him down.

She grabs the ladder and wrestles it out from among the mess, spotting an old polaroid camera as she does so. Winry takes the camera too, deciding to act upon a rather amusing - and very slightly mean - idea at the sight of it. Edward is still thoroughly stuck on his branch when she returns, camera in hand and the ladder tucked under her arm. The boy hasn’t even made any attempts to relocate to a lower branch; she really does have to guess just how big a moron he is.

“Hey Ed,” Winry cups her hands around her mouth, setting down the camera and the ladder against the tree and calling up to him, “I got a ladder for you!”

Ed looks down at her, relieved by the presence of the ladder. “Thanks!” he yells back, smiling gratefully at her.

His smile quickly turns to a scowl when, instead of extending the ladder, Winry picks up the camera and waves it about in front of her to catch his eye. Once she’s sure to catch his grumpy expression, she takes a few steps back and points it up towards him. 

“Say cheese!” She mockingly tells him with a devious grin sitting upon her lips.

Ed refuses to comply, blinking as the camera flashes and she catches his horrid experience in a photograph. The picture slowly prints out of the bottom. Winry takes it and fans it around, waiting for the ink to dry and the picture to develop. Giggling, Winry inspects the photo and then tucks it safely away, muttering about how that picture was a keeper and one to definitely show everyone later.

“Can you help me down now?” Ed asks, his voice filled with deadpan irritation.

“Yeah, yeah, okay,” Winry waves him off, extending the ladder up to the first branch and resting it as securely as possible. “Okay, you can come down now.”

Ed shuffles about, trying to adjust himself to move on to a lower branch so that he can reach the ladder, he finds difficulty in getting down with the cat in his arms. “Uh, Winry?” He says dumbly, “I need both hands to get down to the next branch...”

Sighing, Winry hangs her head in defeat - perhaps she should have called the fire department again, in retrospect. “Fine, I’ll come get the cat, then you can get down,” She declares determinedly, holding her hands on her hips. 

Checking the ladder is safe, WInry climbs up to the top rung and extends both hands out for the cat. Ed tries to lower the cat down to her, only to find that the gap is still slightly too big for them to reach. Hesitating for a moment, Winry climbs on to the lowest branch beneath Ed and stands up, shaking the tree slightly as she finds her balance. Once she’s no longer wobbling, Winry holds out her arms for the cat which Ed hands over. It clings to her as she carries it with one hand and hangs onto the tree with the other, making her way back to the ladder that was there.

“Winry,” Ed says worriedly, pointing towards the ground, “the ladder has fallen over...”

“What?” She glances towards the grass, seeing it lying there, useless, Winry curses the stupid ladder. 

“Great, now we’re both stuck up this tree.” Ed drawls, “Might as well make ourselves comfortable, then.”

Winry nods, sitting down on her branch instead of standing and resting her back against the tree trunk - at least it’s a thick branch and she can sit somewhat comfortably. For some reason, she can see it being a very long day before anyone comes to their rescue. The cat settles on her lap, falling asleep as she strokes it.

“Sorry for getting you stuck up here, Win,” Ed apologises sheepishly.

“It’s okay,” Winry responds surprisingly mildly, “We can blame it on that stupid ladder.”

“You know, it wouldn’t be so bad up here if we had a treehouse,” Ed muses, resting his chin thoughtfully in the palm of his hand, “We could decorate it with skulls, that would be pretty damn cool, don’t you think?”

“What are you? Five?” Winry laughs, “I suppose it would be better, at least then we could actually sit together whilst stuck. Well, at least it’s you I’m stuck with, since I like you.”

“Yeah,” Ed coughs, blushing slightly, “It’d be awkward if it was someone you didn’t like.”

“Alphonse is getting back from Xing today, right?” Winry asks.

“Man, I hope so.”


End file.
